Fluid-tight closure.



E. BEHRIN GER.

FLUID TIGHT CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12. 1914.

1,120, 1 21. Patented Dec. 8, 1914 rig-L 5 /Z) iii EMIL BEHRINGER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FLUID-TIGHT CLOSURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914.

Application filed March 12, 1914. Serial No. 824,175.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Earn. Bumuxonn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fluid-Tight Closures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to liquid heaters, and particularly relates to an improved closure therefor, including means for rcndering the same vapor tight.

One object of the invention is to produce a. closure having means for effecting tight joints over the entire ends of tubular heaters, which will be firmly seated thereon centrally as well as peripherally, and at the same time will afford the required passage ways for the circulation of the heated fluid from one tube to another, regardless of the position of the series of the tubes.

A further object is to provide a simple, effective, and durable tight joint construction of the type set forth.

Other objects and advantages will become ap arent as the specification proceeds.

ith these objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, arrangement, and combinations of parts of the improved closure, as hereinafter described, claimed, and illustrated in its preferred embodiment by the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of a liquid heater, to which the closure is applied; Fig. 2 is an end view of the casing and frame with the cover removed; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the cover as seen from the inside; and Fig. 4 shows a modified form of one of the elements comprised in the closure.

In these views the numeral 5 designates the shell of a liquid heater of the tubular type, such for instance as may be used for pasteurizing milk or performing similar functions. As usual, the shell is provided with heads, as at 6, one at each end, in which a number of tubes 7 terminate. The milk to be pasteurized, or other fluid under treatment, flows through the whole series of tubes, successively, while steam or hot water is being circulated around the outside there of inside the shell.

To the outside of the head 6 is fastened a frame 10, by means of bolts 11. This frame is conveniently made rectangular in form as shown, and is divided into cells 12 of varying sizes, designed each to afford a means of communication between a pair of adjacent tubes 7, through which the fluid undergoing treatment flows in opposite directions. The cells 12 are separated from one another by intervening partitions 13, projecting outwardly from the head (5, and serve to connect the plurality of paired tubes 7 in series, so that the circulation of the fluid therethrough is continuous. The fluid enters through a suitable inlet 14. (shown at the lower left hand corner of the frame 10 in Fig. 2), and is first received in the adjoinin cell as 12. From the chamber 12 the fluid is conveyed through the tube 7 thereto appertaining to an oppositely-located cell, indicated by a dotted line 12", at the other end of the heater. Thence it returns throu h the next horizontal tube and flows into tie cell 12, and so on from cell to tube and tube to cell throughout the rows or banks thereof provided in the shell 5, until the top of the frame 10 is reached where the fluid issues through an outlet 15.

The closure proper includes a rigid plate 20, hinged at 21, to lugs 22, extending latorally outward from the frame 10, over the head 6. This plate is designed to cover the entire frame, and is securely fastened to the same, on the side thereof opposite that of the bin e, by means of a bolt 23, hinged at 24, to ugs 25, also projectin outwardly from the side of the frame 10, t 1e outer end of the bolt passing between a pair of lugs 26 on the cover, over which it is engaged by a nut 27.

Upon the inner face of the cover-plate 20 is placed a soft pad 30 preferably of fibrous material, such as felt or the like, and over the latter is adjusted a thin metal sheet 31, cut so as to extend completely across the open portion of the frame 10, and slightly beyond the surrounding borders and members thereof. The combined pad and sheet are held to the plate 20 by means of a rabbetted frame 32, of the same shape as the frame 10, but of larger dimensions, so that it may lap thereover when the closure is applied to the heater. Screws 33, or other suitable fastenings, passing through the frame 32 and engaging the edges of the plate 20, keep the contiguous edges of the combined pad and sheet confined within the rahbet of the frame While imposing an initial strain upon them, which causes the sheet to press closely all around the pad and effectually shield it from moisture. The rest of the pad,-which is given at first a certain fullness to allow for adjustment and compression is afterward pressed uniformly throughout its area, upon closing the cover-plate 20, when the metal sheet is brought to bear upon the members and dividing partitions of the frame 10.

In the modified form of construction illustrated in Fig. 4, the pad 30 is inclosed within a metal case 31*, composed of two sheets of approximately equal dimensions, seamed around their perimeter, as indicated at 34. This construction renders the metal-covered pad reversible, so that when worn on one side it can he turned over on the other side for re-application to the clos ure. The perimetral seaming, it will be observed, does not interfere with the flexibility of the sheet-metal overlying the pad, on either side. Furthermore, the incased feltpossesses sufficient pliability to form a cushion between the metal sheets having the requisite resilience to preclude their being crushed.

Having described my invention, what ll claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The, combination with a tubular liquid-heater having a cellular frame surrounding its complement of tubes at one end, of a closure therefor including a metaleoi'ered pad in sheet form extending over said frame and the cells thereof.

9. in a tubular liquid heater, the comhi nation of a cellular frame surrounding the adjacent ends of the tubes, a cover therefor, a metal-shielded pad between said cover and said frame and the cells thereof, and a holding frame around the cover formed with a rabhet confining the edges of the pad.

3. The combination, in a tubular liquidheater, of a cellular frame surrounding the adjacent ends of a series of tubes terminating therein, with a closure therefor includ ing a rigid plate, a pad covered with flexi- V ble metal extending over said frame and its l. The combination with a tubular liquid-heater provided with a partitioned frame surrounding its tubes at one end, of a cover plate operating to close said frame, a pad overlaid with flexible metal interposed between the frame and said cover plate. means for holding said pad to the plate around the edges thereof, and means for exerting pressure on the plate and cansing it to carry the pad against the frames partitions.

5. The combination of a tubular liquidheater having a frame surrounding its tubes at one end, of a closure extending beyond the borders of said frame, a metalcorered pad in sheet form interposed between said frame and said closure, and a pad holder removably secured to the closure lapping over the frame exteriorly.

6. In a tubular liquid-heater, the combi nation of a cellular frame surrounding the adjacent ends of the tubes, with a closure therefor including a rigid plate. and a double-facedperimetrally seamed felt and metal pad interposed between said plate and said cellular frame.

7. The combination, in a tubular heater. of an outer shell, a head thereon, an assemhlage of tubes in said shell terminating in said head, a frame on the head surrounding the adjacent ends of said tubes, partitions in said frame subdividing'it into cells severally affording a means of communication between a pair of adjoining tubes, a rigid plate arranged to cover said frame, a pad in sheet form shielded by flexible metal underlying said plate, and means for clamping the plate with its pad upon the frame and its partitions, leaving: the paired tubes in free con'imunication with their respective cells.

Signed at the borough of Manhattan in the county of New York and State of New York this iflth day of March, A. D. 1914'.

Elflllh BTEHRINGER.

Witnesses Q. Kanztson. W. H. Gen. 

